Not sure if this is the right forum for this; but I have a resume question

[BEG]

Thank you.

Good luck to you too!

[Chris_]

Just some general advice, but I've had better luck with some internet job sites than others.  Monster.com is useless, as is that help-wanted-dot-com site that advertises on the radio, but you probably already knew that.  Since 2004 I've been hired at two jobs and a handful of well-paying contracts from careerbuilder.com and I'm still getting emails from companies looking for people (direct addressed email and not mass communications).  I've been at my current job a little over a year; I was hired as a contractor and went to a permanent employee earlier this year because my resume was on that job website.  The company that was hired to do the contracting contacted me and asked me to interview with them because they found my resume there.  I was hired and working in less than a month.

I don't have much experience with Dice.com, but they look like a high-end IT site.  They look like they advertise mostly high-paying important jobs but I've never had a single interview through them.

[BEG]

My husband just said that he found the most people by recruiting at colleges at the end of the year (industrial and graphic designers).  He also said never underestimate the power of networking and NEVER burn bridges. Most industries have a "small world" and most people either know everyone, know of them or know someone who knows of them.  If you have a bad reputation it will follow you forever (take note of that DUmmies).  Take for instance the toy business, you wouldn't believe how small that "world" is and how many people have gone back and forth between just Mattel and Hasbro.

Obviously what I said above is for more "professional" type jobs but the same thing can be said for other jobs, networking is the best way to find out about a new job or an upcoming opportunity.  Be willing to do what Chris did and do contract work as it could turn into a permanat job or you could find out about another opportunity through the contract work.

My husband found his last job on a site just for industrial designers. After he sent his resume he was made aware of the same position through other means, so businesses use multiple resources when looking for employees.

[Karin]

NEVER burn bridges

  A burnt bridge is the worst.  Talk about avoidable mistakes.  When people quit in a snit, cock off, or do other stupid things, there are implications that follow.  I guess this applies everywhere in life. 

Gratiot, since you're doing your first one, feel free to ask for input if you like.  There's a lot of wisdom and experience here. 

[Minky]

In my previous position I was in charge of going through resumes, contacting legitimate candidates, and interviewing them. I picked out my top three and set up a time for them to meet with the owner, my boss.

You'd be shocked at the things I saw over the years.

Hand-written resumes - Yes, this is true. It was for a clerical position in a digital office and they submitted a hand-written resume via fax machine.

Misspellings - I'm anal about this. If you misspell a word on a resume, you will NEVER get a job. If you do get a job with it, then it's probably not a job worth having.

Typed resume on a typewriter with written notes in the margins, crossed out words with updated information, and they used a Sharpie to black out their references. Haha!

I would get a hundred resumes per day. If it wasn't pleasing to the eye, I wasn't interested and trashed it. Don't use silly fonts. Times New Roman or Ariel is fine. Getting too fancy is not going to help you out. But definitely use a font that is easy to read and stay away from the ones that look like cursive writing or calligraphy. Keep it simple. Oh, and don't use font smaller than 10. Smaller than that is work for some of us.

People would call or stop by and ask if I had received their resumes. My answer was always, "Yes, and you will hear from me if we're interested in an interview." I said that to everyone, even the ones that were trashed. Bugging people is a good way to not get a call.

There are great suggestions in this thread. I'm glad I won't be out looking again for a very long time.

[Boudicca]

My husband just said that he found the most people by recruiting at colleges at the end of the year (industrial and graphic designers).  He also said never underestimate the power of networking and NEVER burn bridges. Most industries have a "small world" and most people either know everyone, know of them or know someone who knows of them.  If you have a bad reputation it will follow you forever (take note of that DUmmies).  Take for instance the toy business, you wouldn't believe how small that "world" is and how many people have gone back and forth between just Mattel and Hasbro.

Obviously what I said above is for more "professional" type jobs but the same thing can be said for other jobs, networking is the best way to find out about a new job or an upcoming opportunity.  Be willing to do what Chris did and do contract work as it could turn into a permanat job or you could find out about another opportunity through the contract work.

My husband found his last job on a site just for industrial designers. After he sent his resume he was made aware of the same position through other means, so businesses use multiple resources when looking for employees.

[Boudicca]

Good luck with the job hunting, dixierose and Gratiot!
For what it's worth, I can't think of many jobs anyone in my family landed, outside of military service, that didn't include a bit of networking.  Both of my children owe their current, good, jobs to people who had gotten to know them at their previous jobs and recommended them for a spot in their company when one came free.
I didn't see it here, but maybe it would help a bit-should you land an interview, follow up the day after with a brief letter thanking them for the opportunity to essentially audition for a posiition in their business, how you would be an asset and why...that follow up letter may be the tiny difference between you and the competition.

Again, good luck, guys!